P Ehrlich MedChem

Euro PhD Network

Message of the Coordinator

During the Paul Ehrlich MedChem Euro-PhD Network Meeting Porto in 2018, my candidature as elected coordinator was confirmed for the period 1st January 2019 to 31st December 2021. Our previous coordinators Julio Alvarez-Builla and Danijel Kikelj strongly expanded the quantity and quality of our network, now counting a relevant number of academic partners. 53 are from Europe, belonging to 19 different nations, and two as associate members from Singapore and Israel.

To be as much as possible effective in my three-years coordination it will be essential to keep the cohesion among all members by means of improved scientific and cooperation actions, possibly getting additional resources for research and mobility activities of our PhD students.

The Paul Ehrlich MedChem Euro-PhD Network was established in Palermo (Italy) in November 2009 as a collaborative platform of an initial group of 25 European universities, to promote cooperation between the member institutions in order to deepen contacts and exchanges between scientists and improve the background received by our PhD students in Medicinal Chemistry, thus promoting excellence of our PhD programs. From the initial group of institutions, in 2015 the numbers have reached 55 universities from 21 countries (See Network).

Network membership is open, in principle, to all European Union universities, provided they sign the Letter of intent for participation (See Joining the Network) and accept the Rules and Conditions for awarding the Paul Ehrlich MedChem Euro-PhD Label to Doctors in Medicinal Chemistry (See Activities). Industrial partners and non-EU academic institutions can be accepted as associate members.

Medicinal Chemistry is today a broad discipline resting at the intersection of mainly organic and computing chemistry, biotechnology, biochemistry, and pharmacology, and focuses on the design, synthesis and development of improved active pharmaceutical ingredients (API). And such a complicated field requires more and more a collaborative approach. Thus, the Paul Ehrlich Network tries through its activities, as the meetings or the PhD certificate, to overpass national frontiers through collaboration between our universities and staff within the EU territory.

As a Network coordinator in charge from 1st January 2019, I will do my best to perform this prestigious role and to drive cooperative actions with the goal to improve the Medicinal Chemistry scientific impact of the network at international level.